Means for stacking loaded butter cube plates



Jan. 23, 1934. J QSHERMAN ET AL 1,944,827

MEANS FOR STACKING LOADED BUTTER CUBE PLATES Filed 061?. l, 1952 [Wm/4W@424 WWWZ Patented Jan. 23, 1934 EN 3Q MEANS FOR STACKING LOADED BUTTER.CUBE PLATES Jack Osherman and Angeles, Calif.;

Charles H. Marsh, Los

said Osherman assignor to @arl F. Lehnkering, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application October 1,

5 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in receptacles generally and moreparticularly in butter plates.

One of the important objects of the present invention is to provide asimple, efiicient and inexpensive butter plate or butter dish in whichcubes of butter may be properly served especially in public restaurants,lunch rooms and the like.

The common and accepted method of handling butter in restaurants atpresent consists of an insanitary and labor wasting series ofoperations;First the butter is out into small cubes and is then placedin a crock of ice water and set in a refrigerator until the butter isserved. It is then necessary to extricate and separate each cube fromthe other by means of the fingers and sometimes a fork and then placedin the butter dish to be served. It will readily be seen that constantrepetition of this tedious and insanitary procedure during the busyperiod in a restaurant causes a great loss of time and inconvenience.

Our invention makes it possible to immediately place the butter cubes onthe improved receptacle at the time of cutting, and to stack the loadedreceptacles in a vertical manner so that the butter at no time contactsthe above nested dishes.

This makes it possible and practical to place the loaded receptaclesdirectly in the refrigerator in a compact form for efficient dispensingas required, consequently eliminating repeated handling of the butter. 7

It is well known that small butter plates made from porcelain or otherceramic material are employed by waitresses or waiters in restaurants tocontain small cubes of butteneach table being served with one or moresuch butter plates, depending upon the number of patrons seated thereat.It is customary for the waitress to make her rounds of the tables in therestaurant carrying a bucket of ice water in which the butter cubes areimmersed, for keeping them in a frozen condition. First she has placedupon the tables the small butter plates, and as she reaches each tableshe deposits one or more butter cubes upon each plate, after removingsame from the bucket of ice water. This action on the part of thewaiteror waitress is tedious, slow and unsuitable for rapid service to all thepatrons, especially when it is necessary to replenish the plates ofcertain customers who have consumed their butter cube portions.

To eliminate this practice of carrying a bucket of cold ice water withimmersed butter cubes from table to table, we have devised the presentinvention. We provide a butter plate so shaped and constructed as tolend itself readily for nest- 1932. Serial No. 635,758

ing in a vertical stack, without the difiiculty of one plate stickingonto the butter cube of the plate next below. Were it not for thistendency of the plate to stick upon the butter cube, the several Thiswould not call for using the bucket of ice water so far as carrying thebucket about from table to table.

The present invention provides a small butter dish or platecharacterized by the fact. that it has legs supporting the plate inraised position relatively to the base lines of the legs, so when anumber of similarly sized and shaped butter plates of such constructionare nested together in a vertical tier, there will be spaces or slotsintervening between the several vertically spaced butter plates. Thebutter cubes located in the several butter plates may thus extend intothe pans of these plates and project freely into the spaces betweensuccessive vertically positioned plates, without the butter cubestouching the plates.

A further object of this invention is to provide a butter plate withintegral means whereby it is designed to be nested firmly upon anotherand similar plate therebeneath, by seating upon the rim thereof in amanner without becoming accidentally displaced therefrom.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a platefor holding a cube of frozen or solidified butter in such a manner thatwhen a plurality of such plates with contained butter.

cubes are arranged in a vertical stack or tier, the butter cubes in thesuccessive plates will be out of contact with the plates, thus enablinga waitress to carry the stack of butter loaded plates from table totable in a restaurant and deposit one or more plates upon any table, andalso to deposit two or more nested butter plates at any patrons part ofany table.

A final object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary andrapid manner of serving butter plates containing butter cubes upon atable at which there are diners without having to carry about theunsightly bucket of ice water containing such cubes.

With the above and other objects in view our invention consists in thecombination, arrange ment, and details of construction disclosed in thedrawing and specification, and then more particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawing, in which similar reference characters designate similarparts throughout the respective views,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of our invention, in one form,

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view thereof,

Figure 3 is a side View of a butter plate shown upside down,

Figure 4 is a side view of the butter plate shown supporting the pan ofthe plate in elevated position relatively to the base-lines of the legs.

Figure 5 is a side elevation showing a plurality of the butter platesnested together, some parts being shown in section.

Figure 6 is a bottom plan view of a modified form of butter plate,

Figure 7 is a top plan view of Figure 6, and

Figure 8 is a sectional elevation of the modified form of plates, twosuch plates being shown in nested relation,

7 Referring to the drawing, wherein similar reference charactersdesignate similar parts throughout the respective views, and in whichthe parts appear by way of illustration only, the various details ofconstruction are disclosed.

Today when cubes of frozen butter are served in restaurants and also inhomes, they are deposited upon fiat small plates or dishes made fromporcelain, glass or similar ceramic material. The cube on any plateprojects above the rim of the plate, so that if more than one butterladen plate is to be carried about in a restaurant they must be carriedin a tray, and only a small number of plates may thus be accommodatedupon a tray. No butter laden dish can be placed upon another for thenext higher dish would rest upon the butter, promoting an unsanitaryfeature of butter service. Realizing this, we have devised a smallbutter plate, with particular regard for stacking a plurality of butterladen plates in a vertical tier, so that one plate is supported upon thenext lower plate, but we change the shape and disposition of the butterplate when compared with the conventional butter plate.

In carrying out our invention we will produce the new type ofbutter-dishes or plates out of porcelain, glass, composition, or otherceramic material from which dishes and plates are now made. Each platewill preferably be made round' or annular in cross-section, as at 10having a dished-out portion or pan l1 and an annular rim 12. The bottomof each plate will be fiat and of a horizontal disposition. I provide aplurality of circumferentially spaced apart integral supporting legsbroadly designated A, B and C respectively. Each leg if formed as anarcuate member whose outer curvilinear edge is struck on the same areand has the same center as the plate itself.

Each leg member A, B, or C slopes or projects integrally downwardly andoutwardly of the plane of the plate 10, so as to project laterally ofthe peripheral body thereof, as shown in Figures 1 and 2 particularly.Each leg member consists of an inner thick portion M Whose inner face iscurved as at 15, and whose under surface 14 is flat and is disposed in aplane parallel to the plate 10, to provide a nesting shoulder. The lowerportion of each leg member, 13, bulges out laterally of the plate 10 andrests upon any surface such as a table, or another plate to which it isnested.

Another form of butter plate which we have devised is illustrated inFigures 6, '7 and 8. Here there is disclosed an annular dish or plate 17dished out in accordance with the plate just described, and providingthe pan 11 01' a flat disposition. The dish of the plate is designated19, providing an annular rim in which an annular groove 18 is formed.Upon the under side of each butter plate or dish is formed an annular 8Odownwardly projecting bead 20. A plurality of such modified butterdishes or plates will be formed in the same manner.

In operation it will be seen that the plate illustrated in Figures 1-5inclusive rests by means of its leg members upon any surface. The plateshown in Figures 6-8 inclusive rests upon its lower bead 20. A cube ofbutter may be deposited so as to rest upon the flat bottom of any plate,so as usually to project above the face of this plate. When it isdesired to stack a number of plates 10 as in Figure 5 each plate willhave its hookshaped leg members A, B, or C, etc. seated snugly andfirmly upon the rim of the next plate below, so the fiat shoulders 14 ofthe rebated leg members fit flat in abutting relation with the rim ofthe plate below and so that the curved terminals 13 of the leg memberssnugly fit around the curved corner surface of the rim of the platebelow, the relationship of parts being such that the nested legs of thesuperimposed tier of vertically spaced apart plates will prevent theaccidental lateral displacement of the several plates, so even if anyplates should move rotatedly upon the lower plate supporting it, it neednot fall off from this plate. With the entire series of plates 10 thusnested in a vertical tier, it will be readily seen that a series ofslots 16 will intervene between the several plates, and that the bottomsof the several plates will be disposed in par- 1:10 allelism. Hence anybutter cube located in any plate such as the cubes B in the second andthird plates from the bottom of Figure 5, will be spaced out of contactwith the plate next higher up. In this manner the butter cubes are freeto project .115 into the slots 16 between adjacent parallel plateswithout touching any plate. Hence a high tier of these butter ladenplates may be carried on a tray and one after another one or two or morenested plates removed from the tier and placed upon a table, this takingplace quickly. The butter cubes will be first placed in the individualplates before the plates are stacked, as the butter cubes B are usuallythicker than the depth of the slots 16 to prevent the cubes falling outof the plates should the tray containing the stack of plates be slightlyshaken. We have thus taken into consideration all factors that will makein favor of confining the butter cubes in the nested plates. 1.30

The plates 17 may'also be nested by fitting the annular beads 20 of theseveral plates into the annular grooves 18 of the plates thereunder, asthe beads are made of a size and shape to fit snugly into these grooves.The same slots will 35 intervene between successive plates 17 so nobutter cubes need touch any plate.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have provided a sanitarymethod of stacking plates with the butter cubes contained therein. We donot mean to confine or to limit ourselves to the exact details ofconstruction herein disclosed but mean to cover all variations fallingwithin the purview of the appended claims.

What we desire to claim andsecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination a vertical stack of similarly sized and shaped butterplates, each .plate being a fiat disk having downwardly extendingsupporting legs for raising the plate higher than the 115C base-lines ofthe legs, each of the legs sloping laterally of the peripheral edge ofthe plate and being formed with a rebated portion, whereby the rebatedportions of the several plates may engage nestedly upon the plates nextbelow themselves and be seated thereupon against accidentaldisplacement, said plates having the under and upper sides of theirdisks dished-out whereby chambers intervene between the several plates,the cubes of butter in which will be out of contact with the undersideof the next higher plate when all the plates are stacked.

2. An annular butter dish consisting of a horizontally disposed fiatpart dished out on opposite sides so as to contain a butter cube ineither dish d out portion, and a series of circumferentially spacedapart supporting legs formed marginally thereupon, the several legssloping downwardly and outwardly of the plane of said flat part, andhaving their inside parts rebated so as to nest upon another dish whenseated thereupon, there being an annular rim encircling each dished outsurface made of a greater thickness than the fiat part of the dish.

3. An annular butter plate consisting of a horizontally disposed flatpart, and a series of circumferentially spaced apart integral supportinglegs, each leg sloping downwardly and outwardly so as to project withits bottom portion laterally of the plane of the plate, said legselevating the flat part of the plate above the base lines of the legs,and being formed upon their inside walls with shoulders disposedparallel to the plate, and providing surfaces for nesting the legs uponanother and similar butter plate arranged therebelow, said fiat part ofthe plate being disposed medially of the thickness of the plate, and anannular rim thicker than the fiat part and projecting coaxially fromeach opposing side thereof, said rim providing a butter containingcylindrical chamber.

4. A device as described consisting of a container having a fiat diskformed upon either side of the disk with a dished-out portion encircledby an annular rim, and a series of circumferentially spaced apartoutturned integral lugs providing legs for the container, said legsbeing rebated upon their inner sides for the purpose of seating firmlyupon either rim of a similar container to be mounted in nested relationupon the latter.

5. A plurality of stacked containers consisting severally of verticallyspaced apart horizontal parts, the upper and lower side of each of whichis dished out respectively and arranged in parallel relation, bothdished outparts of each container being encircled by annular rims, oneof which has outwardly and downwardly extending lugs formed withhorizontal shoulders designed to rest upon the rim of the next belowcontainer so as to nest the adjacent pair of containers against lateraldisplacement.

JACK OSHERMAN.

CHARLES H. MARSH.

